Werder Bremen 0-0 Freiburg (2017)

Werder Bremen 0-0 Freiburg
Bundesliga
Saturday 23rd September 2017

Sometimes, plans come to fruition with successful outcomes.

Then, there are other times when your best intentions are put into practice and things don't turn out quite as well as you'd initially hoped.

Although the Weserstadion was overlooked as a host venue for the World Cup back in 2006, it's still one of the more historic stadiums in Deutschland and it was for that reason I was looking forward to going here.

I'd planned the logistics of this trip months in advance; a late night train down to London, then an early flight from Stansted to Hamburg the next morning and finally a two-hour bus ride onwards into Bremen. I even purposely chose my accommodation which was around halfway on the walking route between the bus terminus and the Weserstadion - thus giving me a chance to drop off my luggage without having to venture off the beaten track.

In the respect of travel, everything went smoothly. I arrived in Bremen about two hours before kick-off, slightly earlier than expected, and even had some time to chill out in my hostel before heading to the big game - which was against fellow early-season strugglers Freiburg.

The Westerstadion was every bit as good as I expected it to be. Located on the banks of the River Weser (and, intriguingly, also the home of anti-aircraft guns during the Second World War), it's within walking distance from all the major hot-spots within the city and there was dozens upon dozens of Bremen fans around - sporting their replica shirts in the many bars/pubs nearby. In comparison to away days in England, the surrounding area near the stadium was reminiscent of a visit to Craven Cottage and passing through Bishops Park.

It was perfect weather as well and impossible to resist a Bratwurst - the signature 'matchday food' of any good day out in the Bundesliga.

The pre-match atmosphere was decent with several club-related anthems blasting out over the PA system - including a reworked version of 'Football's Coming Home' (which is still, to this day, hugely popular in Deutschland). The 'It's Coming Home' bit of this version, nevertheless, sounded more like, 'We're on the Bus' so I can only assume something was lost in translation!

My seat was in a corner of the stand - far from the best and a capacity crowd meant it was impossible to move elsewhere to a different one. It was just below the visiting Freiburg fans who were releasing flares, smoke bombs and all sorts in the immediate few minutes prior to kick-off.

The came the match... and the half-time whistle... and the full-time whistle!

My 'pick a good game to watch' radar had gone more wonky than Chesterfield's infamous church spire and it was a turd. Literally nothing happened in the game which I can recall and it was a desperately poor clash between two teams who looked like they couldn't score in a brothel.

A wander around Bremen's old town in the late evening, thankfully, made up for the disappointment and was a far more memorable experience.

I'd purposely picked this weekend out of the fixture schedule to visit Deutschland as the following day, Hannover (only around two hours away by road/rail) were playing Koln. That also finished 0-0.

And to top things off, a week after this snore-fest of football action, I thought I'd surely see at least one goal in the first all-Lincolnshire clash in the Football League in seven years - involving Grimsby Town and Lincoln City at Blundell Park.

That was also a 0-0 stalemate which was as painful as toothache.

I definitely needed to be 'woken up when September ended' because the football had, undoubtedly, cured insomnia and sent me to sleep for a loooooong time!